No. 227

Social Life (Neapolitan) Pizza

This is a similar concept to Project Pie, maybe twice the size, with a large selection of draft microbrews and more than just sodas from the machine (iced tea, bottled items, etc), It's on the corner of College at El Cajon Blvd, near  Smashburger.

It's a very compact menu (8 pizzas, 4 salads, 2 desserts and meatballs for appetizers) and very reasonably priced. Since the wife can't have dairy products, she had the side salad and I had a pepperoni pizza with mozzarella and marinara sauce and a pretty stout iced tea. Our total was $13 and coin.

When my pizza arrived (nice wood chairs, by the way), it had too much sauce (I burned my mouth), a little too much oregano, not nearly enough cheese and I couldn't taste the pepperoni. The crust was burnt around the edges (not a fatal pizza flaw, especially from an actual brick pizza oven) but the pizza was almost soupy in the center, which caused me to burn my mouth. And the shakers for the red pepper flakes and parmesan cheese had holes which were way too small for the job. I realize that that's a minor complaint but...

I will have to go back for another visit soon; this time easy on the sauce, easy on the oregano and more cheese please.

The web site: www.sociallifepizza.com

No. 226

Old Spaghetti Factory

This is a chain with over 2 dozen locations, mainly West Coast but a handful are in far flung places like Ohio, Minnesota and Tennessee...

This location is in a handsome old brick building at the foot of Fifth in the Gaslamp district, just across from the Convention Center on Harbor Drive and a couple of blocks away from PetCo Park

The lobby features an ornate throne (I want one), an antique floor-to-ceiling mirror and the dining room displays several antique furnishings and other turn-of-last-century architectural details.

Needless to say, parking was horrible and we circled the block half a dozen times until a 3 minute parking spot opened up right outside the front door. The hostess said that they enforce the parking regulations strenuously there, even on Sundays but fortunately, my handicapped parking placard allowed me to park there for our meal...

We split a No.3 (Meat Lover’s Treat) with Sicilian Meatballs, Italian Sausage and spaghetti with Rich Meat Sauce and soup or salad ($12.99) and I had an iced tea. Our total was $15 and coin, not including tip.

The wife liked the minestrone soup, the meat sauce is similar to what we make at home (Mom's recipe), the sausage was heavy handed with the fennel and the meatballs and bread were generic.

We arrived at this selection because most of what they serve has cheese, which the wife can't have, or garlic, which I can't have...

Service seems to be minimal to non-existent. The hostess seated us at a table under the stairs, despite a number of booths being available, and quite a distance from the front door, people who were seated after us got their food before we did, the minestrone soup took forever and I was never offered a refill on my iced tea.

The waitress who seemed to do as little as possible (she didn't even "run" her own order) had the nerve to ask the wife "Want your change?" when she paid the bill with a Ben Franklin...

The wife left a $2 tip.

The web site: http://www.osf.com/

No. 225

Tender Greens

This used to be a Pizza Hut or something similar, in a portion of the old (Pickwick?) hotel building, which now houses the downtown bus terminal.

And it's a chain operation with approximately a dozen and a half locations (all in California).

We deliberately waited to check it out on a Saturday in order to avoid the downtown crowds during the work week. I was able to find a 15 minute parking space in sight of the table we chose and had to watch the truck during the meal in case they tried to tow it away, despite hanging my handicapped parking placard on the rear view mirror.

It's a large, cavernous interior with seating for maybe 100 plus and service is cafeteria style.

The wife ordered the Chinese Chicken salad (with tatsoi, mizuna, golden pea sprouts, carrot, wontons, roasted peanuts, cilantro, green onion & sesame dressing). I had the characterize platter (with some excellent prosciutto and salami, a small side salad with what may be mint and pomegranate, what may have been some butter or a very mild cheese, a shot of blue cheese and 3 slices of bruschetta) and an iced tea, For some reason the platters on the chalkboard aren't on the online menu. Our total was $26 and coin.

The wife thoroughly enjoyed her meal, a nice change of pace and in good contrast to the French Dip and fries we had earlier (we're still in the process of moving so we've been eating out a lot lately).

The web site: http://www.tendergreens.com

No. 224

Las Cuatro Milpas

Rough translation: The Four Cornfields, whatever that means...

I've heard about this place since we moved here (it's been around since 1933) and finally made it over there to see what the hubbub was all about. We were lucky to find a handicapped parking space right across the street but the wife still had to stand in the line out the front door and down the sidewalk shortly after 10 AM.

It's in the barrio, just under the ramp to the Coronado Bridge and surrounded by the huge, colorful murals of Chicano Park, which are painted on the on-ramp structures to the bridge. It's also small and old, with a fairly limited menu and no web site.

I had the chorizo and beans and a couple of cans of Coke and the wife ordered the beef taco, a pork tamale and a side of rice. She tells me that the rice was nice and light, the tortillas which came with my order were great but the hot sauce was so hot that even she couldn't eat it. Our total was $11 and coin, very reasonably priced.

I had a bit of the taco (great shell, nothing to complain about there) and ate half of my chorizo and beans. We both agreed it was the best thing we tasted (a little too spicy for me) but will very likely never go back (parking issues, standing in line, etc).

No. 223

Cali Comfort BBQ & Sports Bar

We tried checking this place out before (also on a Sunday morning) but got there after the church crowd started filtering in and didn't want to stand around for 15 or 20 minutes to get seated. This time, we got there right around 9:00 AM (also on a Sunday). It's a couple of miles from the new house...

I ordered their brisket platter (sauce on the side, please) with beans and shoestring french fries and an iced tea and the wife had a small order of pancakes.

The brisket was huge and I only ate a small amount of it, saving the rest for the wife's lunch later. The meat was tender and although they say it was smoked for 12 hours, ours at home has more smoky goodness. The fries were generic, the beans and sauce too sweet for my palate.

After we left there, we stopped by Sprouts for a few groceries. While I was sitting in the truck waiting for the wife to finish up her shopping, a homeless guy approached the truck, saying he hadn't eaten in a couple of days. I gave him the brisket (it was still warm), which he said looked good. He also said he'd never had brisket before and I told him "You'll like it"...

Incidentally, Number One Son's fiance Stacy tells me that her brother Tim (we've never met) frequents this place. As they advertise 22 beers on tap and seem to have plenty of large flat screen TVs, I can see the attraction...

We plan on going back soon to taste around the menu (ribs, tri-tip & pulled pork sandwiches and beer battered onion rings).

Their web site: http://www.calicomfortsd.com/

No. 222

Jones Brothers BBQ

 

We recently discovered this place while driving around our new neighborhood, checking things out.

 

They specialize in Mississippi style (sweet) BBQ and we ordered a brisket sandwich and a tri-tip sandwich, sauce on the side (it's also printed on the ticket), slaw and fries. I also ordered a couple of cans of Coke. Our total was $20 including a buck and change tip.

 

We were offered several different sauces and had the mild and a slightly spicier one.

 

The tri-tip was served on white bread, the brisket came on a bun and they drowned both in sauce  .

 

We weren't overly impressed with anything (they may have given us a pulled pork sandwich instead of brisket, the slaw was mediocre) and we have to confess that Phil's is still our go-to guy.

 

Their web site: http://www.jonesbrothersbbq.com

No. 221

Panda Express

 

While synthesizing our first ten years of food here in another article I'm putting together, I realized I had never been to a Panda Express and we visited one last evening. It isn't far from here (in a small strip mall in El Cajon, where Krispy Kreme used to be) and we checked out the menu online. We knew exactly what we wanted and cruised on over for an early dinner.

Unfortunately, what you see online is a far cry from the partially stocked, already congealed, humble steam table offerings they deliver. It was easily the worst attempted Chinese food I've ever had, with soggy Orange Chicken, which is usually twice fried and crispy. And they said it'd be a 10 or 15 minute wait until they could knock out another batch of their current special (Samurai Surf & Turf) as it would have to be defrosted first. The vegetables were just that, possibly a defrosted melange a la Birdseye and the spring rolls were so much mush, no texture and room temperature as well.

It's not that they don't have the personnel to do it right as I counted half a dozen people standing around behind the line, mainly stirring the stuff from the half empty steam table.

We'll never go back, of course, and our total for the 3 Way meal with iced tea was $11 and coin.

The web site: http://www.pandaexpress.com/

No. 220

Cowboy Star

It only took us 5 years to get there...

It's downtown (near the corner of 10th & Market) so we hit the rush hour traffic, which wasn't too bad.

We had to park around the corner, half a block away and hoof it in, probably the farthest I've walked in several years....

And it's not as large as I'd thought, with seating for 20 or so in the bar, maybe that much more out front (sidewalk seating) and several times that in the dining room. There's also a small butcher shop at the front (with separate entrance) and western theme decor (the sound system played Asleep at the Wheel, Bob Wills, etc).

Our server was Brie and the wife ordered the $12.80 Ed Bedford Happy Hour Special, "steak and frites” (an 8-ounce steak in a red Bordelaise sauce with “hand-cut” fries). BTW, Ed Bedford writes for The Reader and his review several months ago finally prompted us to make it over there...

We got there a couple of minutes too late for their burger (lunch only) so I had the Charcuterie plate ("a daily selection of cured meats served with whole grain mustard and house pickled vegetables"), which is  normally $16 but as it was Happy Hour, it was 20% less. The plate featured duck confit, 2 types of prosciutto, the hardest crostini either of us ever had (you could break a tooth), guanciale*, a couple of rounds of a very hard salami, miniature gherkins, and a nice, coarse ground mustard. I also had a very stout iced tea (a few of the places we eat at have tea so weak that it looks like a glass of ice water and this was refreshingly strong for a change).

To paraphrase comedian Kevin Nealon's ("SNL", "Weeds", etc) recent Netflix special, we were "whelmed, but not overly"...

Our total was just over $28, make it an even $35 with tip.

Their web site: http://www.thecowboystar.com

*Guanciale is most often an unsmoked Italian bacon prepared with pig's jowl or cheeks. Its name is derived from guancia, Italian for cheek. Guanciale is similar to the jowl bacon of the United States. Pork cheek is rubbed with salt, sugar, and spices (typically ground black pepper or red pepper and thyme or fennel and sometimes garlic) and cured for three weeks. Its' flavor is stronger than other pork products, such as pancetta, and its texture is more delicate.Guanciale is traditionally used in dishes like spaghetti alla carbonara. It is a delicacy of central Italy, particularly Umbria and Lazio.

No. 219

Joe's Crab Shack

We've eaten at Joe's a couple of times, when we first moved here. We didn't write about it then as we hadn't yet discovered blogging...

I've been meaning to get over there again for several months now, in order to check out their steampots, specifically the Corona Beach Bake which has two small lobsters, half a dozen fair sized shrimp, clams, sausage, potatoes and an ear of corn on the cob. I'm not supposed to have shell fish (and a whole lot of other things) so this was mainly for the wife's benefit.

She's not a fan of crab and this is the only steampot they have without it.

It's not cheap ($42.95) and we were disappointed all across the board, with the food (cold, tasteless & chewy), service and more specifically, with the food handling practices or almost total lack thereof.

We saw numerous health code violations (I quit counting after 5) and were thoroughly disgusted by the time we left. I won't go into it here but we'll never go back.

And I'm thankful that we didn't get sick as the wife has been food poisoned twice since we moved here, once at the Fish Market and again at Brigantine. These instances were several years apart as it makes you "gun shy" after the first time and in both cases, it was from the cioppino...

No. 218

Slater's 50 / 50

NOTE: This entry is out of order (we actually did this several months ago). I had intended to visit a second time but never got around to it.

We just got back from Slater's 50 / 50 in Liberty Station (formerly Naval Training Center San Diego).

That's the place whose specialty is burgers made with 50% bacon mixed right in with the ground beef.

This time, we got there just as they opened but it wasn't planned that way and I didn't have my camera with me.

It was probably just as well as it didn't go well. I passed on the 50 / 50 burger (with Bacon Pretzel bun) as the bacon inside doesn't cook long enough to change color (I'm just not eating it).

And as it was, they delivered my well done burger still pink in the middle so I ended up grabbing a McDouble at the drive thru on the way home.

The wife did enjoy her third pound burger, rating the meat possibly higher than Smashburger but the bun was too chewy for her (bad teeth).

Fries are a la cart there and they delivered ours to the table almost immediately, without bothering to ask if we wanted them separately or with our burgers.

Predictably, the 20 minute rule kicked in and we weren't really all that hungry by the time the burgers arrived (I do mean a real 20 minutes), especially fortunate for me as it'd be almost an hour by the time we made it back here.

We ordered the fries well done and they were perfect but generic, frozen pre cut potatoes. The fries were presented with bacon catsup (couldn't taste it) and the wife's burger had bacon on it, which she removed.

Management removed the untouched 50 / 50 burger from the bill and it was still $18 and coin for a third pound burger, small fries ($4.75!) and an iced tea...

I should also mention the 150 draft beers on tap (a wall o' taps) and at least 21 large, flat screen TVs ($20K worth of TV, maybe more) all around the walls, anywhere you look. I should also mention the 7 or 8 different games, etc they were tuned to...

We were out taking care of a little business when we realized we were close to Slater's and decided to check it out, without the camera. We had wanted to photograph the giant bronze burger sculpture in the patio and the place also has a lot of food stuff (posters, etc) on the walls, nothing spectacular.

The web site: https://slaters5050.com/locations/san-diego/

No. 217

Luna Grill - The Ultimate Kabobery

As the wife is lactose intolerant, she couldn't share in my pizza (see No. 216) so we checked out the Luna Grill, right across the street from Project Pie.

I can't remember us ever doing two tastings in one day...


Luna Grill is a chain with 8 locations, most of them here in this county but one in Orange County as well.

The menu is largely Mediterranean fare and the wife had the Gyro plate (80% beef, 20% lamb) with a salad, rice and pita bread and the total was just over $10 plus another buck tip.


The place is stylishly appointed, with 46 seats inside, more on the sidewalk on both sides (it's a corner lot).

I should point out that each and every one of the booths was too small for me and that's after losing over 60 lbs...

And the metal chairs at the handful of tables were no better and my back is a mess today.


Would she go back again?

Yes, but only if she's already in the neighborhood (for an appointment at UCSD, a mile away, for instance) as it's almost 20 miles from here.


Their web site: http://www.lunagrill.com/

No. 216

Project Pie

Everyday Artisan Pizza Custom Built By You

I heard about this place several months ago but never seemed to make it over to Hillcrest to check it out. Yesterday, the wife couldn't decide where she wanted to eat so we headed out that way, looking...


Fans of "Seinfeld" will remember Cosmo Kramer's "dream", a make your own pizza place and this is about as close to reality that the concept will ever get.

To start with, it's one-size-only (12 inches) and you tell each person behind the counter what you want on your pie. The first guy does the dough and adds sauce, then the fetching cheese wench is next in line and she hits your pie with the cheese; next comes an assortment of toppings (in my case, it was pepperoni only) then you pay while they stuff your pie into a very hot pizza oven.

Mine was a very reasonable $8.10 plus we threw a buck into the tip jar.

The pizza is out of the oven very quickly (I barely had enough time to grab a few napkins and a plastic fork) - Note: the plastic knives and forks really don't cut it...


And I have a problem with the fact that the only thing to drink comes out of the soda machine.

Some of us never bothered to acquire a taste for line cleaner, which seems to be in every soda machine in the world now and some of us can't have sugary drinks either (guys, add some bottled water or iced tea, and not the pre-sweetened garbage or that passion fruit flavored junk).

I realize that's not a big complaint but they could have "upsold" me a buck or two if they had anything I could actually drink.

As it was, I sent the wife next door to Subway but all they had was a soda machine as well...


Decor can best be described as industrial warehouse chic (early Chevys) with roll up garage doors on the University Avenue side and parking is extremely tight.


I'd go back in a second (it's the best pizza I've had here, with a perfect crust, good sauce and first rate toppings) but it's too far to do frequently.\

The Web site: http://www.projectpie.com/

No. 215

Samichez

This is a small (5 seats) sandwich shop in Grossmont Center, behind the Food Court (kind of hard to find).

Randy Davis discovered it recently and took us to lunch yesterday. The sandwiches are large and reasonably priced and there's more seating on the patio and in the Food Court.

Randy had the No.19 (the Carnegie - On Rye and Stacks of Pastrami) on his first visit so he tried something different yesterday, no. 2, the NCPP (North Carolina Pulled Pork), with a side of fries and a cane sugar root beer. The wife had the No. 20, the Rocky which is essentially a pepper steak and I had half of a No. 18, the Muffuletta (apparently also a recognized spelling), the Halfaletta? with a Coke. The mandatory olive salad topping the muffaletta was so similar to ours that I couldn't tell the difference...

The wife had to pull the cheese off of her sandwich (she's lactose intolerant) despite clearly telling the woman at the counter "no cheese". And the bread was kind of stale on my sandwich but could have been easily overlooked if they had dressed it with a bit more olive oil or prepared the sandwich in advance, then weighted it down for at least a few hours, the way it's supposed to be done.

The sodas were all very reasonably priced at $1 and they are in the process of adding free iced tea and coffee to the menu.

Randy spent a total of $34 and coin for all 3 of our meals

Finally, there are several other sandwiches we plan to try in the near future; the No. 1, their Cuban, the No. 9 - Po'Boy - On French Bread, Beer Battered Fried Shrimp, Lettuce, Tomato, Chipotle Mayo Sauce - and the No.17 - The Chicago - On Italian Loaf, Slow Roasted Top Sirloin, Warm Giardiniera, Sauteed Greeen Bell Peppers...

Their web site: http://therealsamichez.com/

No 214

Grab-N-Go Subs

We tried stopping by their Mission Gorge location about a week ago but they were closed (it was a Sunday) but they were open today (Saturday) so we checked them out this morning, before we get the 100 degree heat they're threatening us with today, over here in East County.

They're a local chain with close to a dozen locations.

I had the Italian and the wife had the pastrami.

I also had a Coke in a plastic bottle and our total was $15 and coin.

They make their own bread in-house (not bad!) and the tomatoes were surprisingly good looking, good texture but not much taste. The wife says the pastrami is as good as most of what she's had here locally (Antonelli's Deli, Togo's, DZ Aikins and Gaglione Brothers).

They also had a great Coke recycler (you throw your empties in it) which resembles a large bottle of Coke but the woman behind the counter wouldn't sell it to us for my brother's Coke collection.

Overall, I'd rate them higher than Submarina, Quizno's and Subway and very close to Togo's...

Their web site: http://www.grabngo.com/

No. 213

Red Moon Noodle House
(Welcome to our unique blend of Chinese - Japanese Cuisine)

Red Moon is a small (31 seats by my count) noodle shop on Convoy, the local Chinese Restaurant Row (right next to Tofu House). It's clean, neat and the owner said they've been open for approximately 6 months now.

We discovered it while driving down Convoy looking for something new to eat and with a name like that, it was a natural...

We ordered the Red Moon Beef (slices of crispy beef sautéed with tangerine peel in the chef's special sauce), the Assorted Soup Noodles, a couple of vegetarian Egg Rolls and a pot of tea. The food arrived with a small bowl of rice but he must have missed our egg rolls as they never made it to the table. The Red Moon Beef is at least twice cooked (maybe more) and was indistinguishable from Dynasty's (in Suisun) Twice Cooked Beef. The noodles were plentiful (like spaghetti) and had a number of fair sized shrimp, beef, chicken, egg, large mushrooms, baby corn, snow peas, water chestnuts and bamboo shoots.

Our total was $17 and coin, make it an even $21 with tip.

The web site (coming soon): www.redmoonnoodlehouse.com

No. 212

Hooters
Mission Valley

The first thing you notice is the odor of old, burned cooking oil (that, and the music is too loud). There's a lot of wood in the room, with contrasting orange & white decor to match the girl's uniforms.

And there were so many flat screen TV's we couldn't count them all (well over 20), some of them huge, maybe 80 inches or larger and they were tuned to at least 8 different programs.

Additionally, there was an overabundance of spectacularly prominent mammalian protuberances as the late, great Frank Zappa would say. We counted 4 girls on the floor when we got there (11:00 AM) but double that by the time we left.

We ordered the fish (cod) & chips for the wife, chili & iced tea for me; the chili had beans in it and both were barely above room temperature. The drink glasses and plates were all plastic. Our total was $21 plus coin, make it an even $25 with tip. I should also mention that the check had tip suggestions printed on it for 15%, 18% and 20% based on your purchase.

Overall, it was overpriced, generic food and we'll very likely never go back.

The company web site: http://www.hooters.com

No. 211

Woodstock Pizza

They have 2 locations, one in OB and the other in the college area (Canpus Plaza at El Cajon Blvd)

According to the City Beat reader's poll, they have the best pizza in town so we decided to check it out.

The interior is just like any other college pizza joint with red bricks and wood paneling covered in initials, carvings, etchings, etc.

The menu is very tight, with pizza, salads and a few other dishes.

I asked for a small pizza but the guy gave me the personal pizza instead and the wife had a side salad (she's lactose intolerant so she can't have pizza).

I also had an iced tea and the total was $14 and coin, make it an even $16 with $1 plus the spare coin tip.

The pizza had good dough, sauce, cheese, mediocre (salty) pepperoni, poor proportions (too much crust) and I'll go back for a second visit to have the small pizza I wanted.

Their web site: http://www.woodstockssd.com

Update: It's a fair pizza but nowhere near the best I've ever had.

Would we go back?

Yes, if we're in the area...

No. 210

Brody's Burgers & Beer
12930 Campo Road
Jamul, CA. 91935

We read about this place in The San Diego Reader and decided to drop by for a leisurely Sunday morning lunch.

The menu is very basic, burgers, fries, etc and I have to commend them for such a tight menu. They also have a chicken sandwich, grilled cheese, several types of fries, milk shakes and a nice selection of local beers as well (too bad I can't have one)...

Their beef is sourced locally ("...ground daily and supplied by Valley Farms Market" ), their buns are from Bread & Cie and they use the Coke product line.

I had the mushroom Swiss burger, the wife had a regular burger (no cheese), we split an order of steak fries and our total was just over $19, make it $23 with tip.

Nice people, clean place and a sunny, Sunday morning drive out near the golf courses through scenic Rancho San Diego...

Their web site: www.brodysburgersandbeer.com


PS: We also discovered a locally made product on the tables, Kikidee's Smoked Sea Salt (they also have smoked black pepper grinders).I couldn't really taste it so it looks like we'll pick some up at the store and test it on a few items we do here at home and are familiar with (corn on the cob comes to mind)...

No. 209

Leonardo's Pizza in El Cajon

I should have minded the reviews on Yelp (50% bad, 50% good)...

I ordered the calzone ($13.98) and it was ice cold in the center when it was delivered. I walked out as there's just no fixing something done so inartfully...

No. 208

Sausage and More
Christel’s European Delicatessen and Bistro
12241 Woodside Ave
Lakeside,California
92040

This is a new location (and name) for what used to be the Old Country Restaurant & Deli on University Avenue in La Mesa (looking at "A Taste of San Diego II", I ate there back in April of 2004)...

Then, as now, the owner (Christel) certainly has very reasonable prices ($13 and coin for my lunch, the wife's lunch and 3 frankfurters to take home to try later), make it an even $15 with tip.

The place is neat, clean and they're accommodating as well (we got there maybe 10 minutes before opening time and they flipped the sign around and let us in even though they weren't finished whipping up a fresh batch of German potato salad). As a guy who always liked lunch a bit earlier than everyone else (it avoids the crowd), extra points for opening at 10:00 AM.

I had the bratwurst sandwich, which came with spicy mustard on the side, a couple of pickle spears, kraut and potato salad. I also ordered a can of Coke. I have to note that they microwaved the sausage, a serious no-no in my book, but it wasn't the least bit chewy as I had expected it to be. It had great flavor but I wasn't fond of the generic bun and noticed several great looking rye breads on the shelf.

The wife had the ham sandwich, also served with pickles and potato salad and says the ham was delicious.

The web site: http://www.sausageandmore.com/